First Time Fending Off An Intruder – Kuta – Bali

After spending the first 5 weeks of our trip running around more or less continuously (in both Borneo and Bali), we decided that, on our return to Kuta, we’d spend a couple of days relaxing and more or less staying in the airbnb catching up on blog posts. This had the pleasing side effect of being a bit cheaper and allowing us to replace some of the budget that we’d spent on flights from Kota Kinabalu. And expensive meals in Uluwatu. And cocktails in Kuta.

Worth it.

The stage was set – we’d booked into Anja’s flat again, knowing that it had a fairly stable internet connection, plus a tv with a multitude of channels. We checked in at 2, and spent the rest of the day diligently working on posts, illustrations and actually building our sites into something worth sharing. The only time we left the flat was to fetch food – from a warung (outdoor cafe kind of thing) that we’d previously discovered where we could both eat a meal for £1.50, complete with a drink.

This productivity continued into the next day, with us getting up fairly early to pick up where we’d left off. Unfortunately due to an error on our part, we’d only booked the flat for one night rather than two. The cleaner came in to find us in pyjamas and definitely not in a position to check out. Anja came over to explain what had happened, but was also able to offer us another of her houses located just around the corner.

We took her up on her offer, and were pleased to find that the house was a little larger (one of the perks of being a little pricier). Although we were surprised to find that there were a number of vented areas left open, large enough to allow mosquitos in. We also had a cat that had somehow gotten into the house briefly come down the stairs, before it ran away when we went to stroke it.

Despite the change of location,we threw ourselves back into blogging, and continued at it until 1 in the morning. Aided by episodes of Adventure Time and a spot of Indonesian shopping TV – which was actually laid out pretty similarly to shopping TV in the UK (speaking as a former employee of one).

But wait, there’s more

Turning in to go to bed, we found that there were a large set of doors leading out to the patio from the main bedroom, and there were lights that threw shadows onto the curtains. Exactly like a horror movie. Considering the points of entry left open into the property, and the creepy backlit curtain situation, sleep wasn’t very forthcoming for either of us. Every creak in the old house was amplified.

At one point Laura gasped and turned to me, “Did you hear that? It sounded like something moving about outside”. I said that it was probably the old house. We turned over and continued trying to get to sleep. Then there was an almighty crash.

We couldn’t ignore that. We both got up and Laura bravely stood behind me as we opened the door. The light from our room illuminated the kitchen to show that a bin had been tipped over, and a white shape darted out of the kitchen, up the stairs and away through the open balcony door. We breathed a sigh of relief. The small cat had returned, knocking our bin over for the chickeny treats stored within.

The calm was short lived. As Laura and I returned to the bedroom laughing at our cute intruder and she climbed into bed, she uttered another, almost comically dramatic gasp. Sitting in the middle of our floor was a huge cockroach. We’d seen several of these before, scuttling around the streets of Kota Kinabalu after dark, but never actually inside our house. Never actually inside our bedroom.

I went to the kitchen and picked up a glass, and carefully placed it over the cockroach – a task made more difficult by its large size combined with similarly proportioned antennae. Sliding a piece of paper under it, I was able to pick up the glass and remove the cockroach from the property.

After all the drama, we actually managed to get to sleep fairly quickly, and weren’t bothered again by cats or cockroaches. We were up and ready for the next morning, when we were due to head to Ubud.